Visit South Africa ... for the trip of a lifetime! With so much to see and so much to do, but whether you are going for
the Wildlife, the Weather or the Wine, this is as good a place as any to start.

We can open your eyes to everything this wonderful country has to offer whilst at the same time, keeping everything as
simple as possible. We do not sell holidays, we just help you design your own.

Make a start by looking at what some of the Big Cities have to offer, where it says "Cape Town today" or Jo'burg Today" etc. These pages
are provided courtesy of Lonely Planet, who do a much better job of keeping this information up-to-date than we can.

Cape Town

The Portuguese are recognised as having been the first European visitors, with the arrival of Bartholemew Diaz in 1488. The Dutch came
much later, in the 17th Century, but they decided to stay and duly established the first settlements in the Cape.

Much evidence of their presence still remains in Cape Town but since the early 20th Century the British were predominant,
until of course the exciting events of 20 years ago when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the politics of the region was
changed for ever.

Johannesburg

This is a young city. It is hard to believe there was nothing here until the discovery of gold in 1886, which sparked a mass
migration of people from all over the world seeking to make their fortune in this chaotic new settlement. The population exploded and
Johannesburg soon became the largest city in South Africa as well as the business capital.

A lot has happened to the city in recent years, inner city crime and neglect have resulted in the large-scale migration of
businesses and commerce away from the Central Business District to the more affluent northern suburbs

But as well as business, it has grown to become as a centre for learning and entertainment for all of Africa.

Durban

Durban was first sighted by Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama at Christmas in 1497, whilst searching for a route from Europe to
India. He named the area "Natal", which means “Christmas” in Portuguese.

Modern Durban dates from 1824, when a party of British soldiers arrived from the Cape Colony and established a settlement on the
northern shore of the Bay. They were granted a strip of coast by the Zulu King Shaka and the area was formally annexed by the
British in 1844

The sugar cane industry was established soon afterwards, labourers were imported from India to work the plantations and now Durban
has the largest Indian population outside of India.